The Place Where I Live

A couple in this county but a few towns over recently had a safe stolen from their home. It contained $100,000 in gold and silver bars that they had just removed from a bank safe deposit box in order to buy a house. I'm thinking either first generation immigrants untrusting of banks due to experiences in the old country (although, why then use a bank's safe deposit box?), or drug dealers trying to keep income off the books (although, I can't imagine customers buying with gold and silver so somewhere along the line cash must have been paid for these bars so there's a record somewhere), or--and this seems most likely to me--idiots.

Considering all of the advertising on TV and in the paper pushing gold and silver hedges against a falling dollar, junk mail touting collectible coins and medallions and right-wing ranters extolling the virtues of hoarding hard metal for the end-times, I'm not surprised someone thought this was a good idea.
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On a totally unrelated note, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissioners remind people that it's not just a bad idea to hunt alligators with a handgun, it's also illegal. Handguns are, apparently, perfectly legal when hunting Burmese pythons, as long as the coup de grace is administered correctly.

But do not share with bears. Or the feral hogs.

Strange Pocket Change

My brother discovered a small oval ceramic box Mom made for him many years ago. Inside it was a small pouch and inside the pouch was a small pile of foreign coins. I've just spent a couple hours sorting and identifying them.

Most are your standard pre-euro European change, the kinds of things tourists might bring home, with an emphasis on Spain and U.K.. South and Central America are also well represented with samples from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Guatemala and Mexico. But . . . there's some kind of neat stuff here, too.

(Sri Lankan 2 cent piece)

For instance, there are two coins from Bulgaria, a 1974 20 stotniki from the People's Republic version, and a 1992 2 leva from the current incarnation. Ditto a 1980 1 koruna from Czechoslovkia and a 1993 10 haleru from the Czech Republic. Also a couple of 2 pfennig coins (1979 & 1992) from West Germany and a 1969 20 pfennig from East Germany.

(The oldest coin in the "collection")

(South African penny)

On the "who brought that home front," there are two 1 kyat pieces from Myanmar (both 1999), a 1933 5 piastres piece from Syria, a 1982 1 kopeck from the Soviet Union. also 2 cent and 50 cent pieces from Sri Lanka. And Vanuatu (1995 20 vatu). Nobody I know has ever been to Vanuatu.

The one I had virtually no clue on until I could track it down, however, was a small, 1 cent copper coin with the legend "ISEWULA AFRIKA" on the front. Turns out that's the name for South Africa in the Ndebele language.

So I learned something today.